Status Updates From Great Ghost Stories

First Line: Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parkour of Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. (The Monkey’s Paw — W. W. Jacobs)

First Line: I am the most unfortunate of men. (The Moonlit Road — Ambrose Bierce)

First Lines: I met a man in the Strand one day that I knew very well, as I thought, though I had not seen him for years. We walked together to Charing Cross, and there we shook hands and parted. Next morning, I spoke of this meeting to a mutual friend, and then I learnt, for the first time, that the man had died six months before. (A Ghost Story — Jerome K. Jerome)

First Line: When the time for his examination drew near Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind to go somewhere to read by himself. (The Judge’s House — Bram Stoker)

Period, Malcolm. Do you.

First Line: About thirty years ago I was selected by two rich old maids to visit a property in that part of Lancashire which lies near the famous forest of Pendle, with which Mr. Ainsworth’s ‘Lancashire Witches’ has made us so pleasantly familiar. (Dickon the Devil)

First Line: I have always noticed a prevalent want of courage, even among persons of superior intelligence and culture, as to imparting their own psychological experiences when those have been of a strange sort. (To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt)

First Line: The circumstances I am about to relate to you have truth to recommend them. (The Phantom Coach)